State regulators release plan to restore Hudson

Four priority habitats important to overall health are identified

Associated Press

Updated 10:59 pm, Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Photo: Paul Buckowski

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Times Union staff photo by Paul Buckowski Lines are cast into the Hudson River near the Troy Dam in Waterford, N.Y., on Sunday, April 30, 2006. The Hudson River is becoming filled with people fishing for the striped bass which are making their annual run up the Hudson. less

Times Union staff photo by Paul Buckowski Lines are cast into the Hudson River near the Troy Dam in Waterford, N.Y., on Sunday, April 30, 2006. The Hudson River is becoming filled with people fishing for ... more

Photo: Paul Buckowski

State regulators release plan to restore Hudson

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Albany

A draft plan released by state regulators on Tuesday will guide efforts to restore and protect the Hudson River Estuary from the Troy dam to the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The plan identifies four priority habitats for restoration: tidal wetlands, shallows, shorelines and tributaries. It says those habitats are important to the overall health of the ecosystem but have been degraded or destroyed on a large scale by development.

About half the estuary's shoreline remains in a natural state, but the rest has been engineered with walls and other structures to protect property or support transportation, recreation or industrial activities.

Besides harming wildlife, loss of shoreline wetlands and shallows has made riverside communities more vulnerable to flooding by removing natural barriers that protect against weather extremes and rapid sea level rise, authorities said.

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"Restoration of healthy habitats will provide benefits for fish, birds, turtles, crabs, mammals and invertebrate animals and to the residents of the Hudson River Valley and the state of New York," DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said in a prepared statement.

Habitats in the estuary, which is tidal up to the federal dam at Troy, have been damaged since the early 1800s by navigational dredging, filling of wetlands, construction of the railroad along sensitive shoreline habitats and construction of dams in tributaries.

Restoration actions in the plan include dam removal and culvert improvement in tributaries to promote fish passage; invasive-species control programs; preservation of existing shore land habitat; and environmentally sound methods of shoreline stabilization to protect property.